Thursday, February 10, 2011Amazon Ramps Sales Tax FightIn a move which might affect California's renewed efforts to tax sales on Amazon.com and other similar e-commerce sites, the e-commerce giant is preparing to shut down a distribution center in runs in Dallas, Texas, over a $269M tax bill presented to the firm by the State of Texas. The move is the most dramatic so far by Amazon.com, which has faced tax efforts by Colorado, New York, North Carolina, and other states, and which has not hesitated to drop all affiliates in those states over attempts (More info...)
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Report: eHarmony HackedA security researcher is reporting that Pasadena-based matchmaking site Santa Monica-based eHarmony is alerting users to change their passwords, after a reported breach of customer information. According to KrebsonSecurity, an Argentinian hacker who was also responsible for a recent hack of PlentyOfFish.com was the source of the breach, which affected users of eHarmony's advice site. The breach follows a rash of similar security issues from other web-based service providers in the last few month (More info...)
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LA Startups Gather At TwiistupLos Angeles area startups and would-be entrepreneurs were gathered Thursday as a part of the annual Twiistup technology conference, being held at the Skirball Center. The startup event--which continues until tonight--included keynotes by David Cohen of TechStars, Suneel Gupta of Groupon, Loic Le Meur of Seesmic, and many others. Despite some disagreement over the role of Los Angeles in the technology world, there was a sense of optimism among attendees of the area's role in the startup ecosystem (More info...)
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Foodme Gets Funding From IdealabPasadena-based Foodme, a new startup looking to connect restaurants with diners, has scored new funding from Idealab's New Venture Group. Size of the funding round was not disclosed. According to Foodme founder John Delacruz, the firm is helping to fill seats at restaurants by providing special deals and discounts to users, and has initially launched in Pasadena, with plans to expand into other areas of Los Angeles soon. Delacruz said that the firm is one of the first investments from a new effo (More info...)
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FastPay Finds FundingLos Angeles-based FastPay, a provider of payment products for digital publishers, application developers, and game developers, said today that it has raised a funding round. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. Source of the new funding was also not announced. The firm, headed by Jed Simon, said it advances payment on incoming revenue, cutting down from the standard 60 to 120-day payment delay in the industry.
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Mogreet Hires Marketing VPLos Angeles-based Mogreet, the video mobile marketing firm led by James Citron, said today that it has named Tara Zanecki as Vice President of Marketing and Client Services. Zanecki joins the company from Obscura Digital in San Francisco. Mogreet said Zanecki has more than 15 years of sales and marketing experience in technology. Mogreet is venture backed by Ascend Venture Group, Black Diamond Ventures, DFJ Frontier, Spyglass Ventures and Clovehitch Partners.
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Sonos Hits AndroidSanta Barbara-based Sonos, the developer of wireless music systems for the home run by John MacFarlane, said today that it has released a version of its Sonos Controller application for Android. The free application allows owners of Sonos music systems to control their multi-room systems via an Android app. Sonos already offers up similar applications for the Apple iPhone and iPad. Sonos develops music systems which allows users to stream music from their PC or the Internet into different rooms (More info...)
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MarketShare Buys MarketingNPVLos Angeles-based MarketShare, the marketing analytics firm run by Wes Nichols and Jon vein, announced today that it has agreed to acquire MarketingNPV, a provider of measurement products for marketers. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. MarketingNPV provides processes and tools to help marketers benchmark and improve their marketing performance. The company said that Pat LaPointe, Managing Partner at MarketingNPV, becomes EVP Americas of MarketShare, with Cheridy Bell, Partn (More info...)
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Interview with Hamilton Chan, PaperLinksHamilton Chan is founder of Los Angeles-based PaperLinks (www.paperlinks.com), a new startup which is developing mobile applications which take advantage of QR codes--the 3D barcodes which are cropping up everywhere--to help users marketers go beyond just linking those codes to web pages, but also to power social applications. The firm has a native, iPhone application which uses QR codes to drive user friendly, social modules for events, pulling up information, and much more natively in iOS. Ham (More info...)
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Active Launches Hyperlocal Activity SiteSan Diego-based Active.com, the operator of online sports and community activity registration sites, said this morning that it has expanded into the hyperlocal information market, with the launch of a new, local Bay Area activity guide. Active said the new, hyperlocal Active.com Bay Area site provides information on sporting events, fitness activities, and other things to do in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as discounts on gear and activities through its Schwaggle program. Active.com did n (More info...)
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LAVA Honors Richard Riordan, Local Technology FirmsThe Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) held its annual awards event last night, honoring former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as well as local, venture backed companies in a banquet last night at the Luxe hotel in Los Angeles. LAVA inducted Mayor Riordan--who had a long and involved career in venture capital and private equity before his efforts in politics--into its LAVA Hall of Fame. The group, which promotes the venture capital industry in the Los Angeles area, also honored local com (More info...)
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Specific Media Promotes VPIrvine-based Specific Media, the Internet advertising network, said yesterday that it has promoted John Chung to VP of Sales for the Grat Lakes Region. Chung has been at Specific Media since 2007, and was most recently Director of Sales and Client Services. he also previously served at Young & Rubicam, Organic, Inc. and Microsoft. Specific Media maintains a presence in the Great Lakes area due to the region's density of automotive manufacturers.
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